Police ballistics expert Chris Mangena told Pistorius' murder trial that he believed Steenkamp had been standing behind the bathroom door through which the athlete shot her when the first bullet struck her hip.

He said this caused her to fall down on top of a magazine rack next to the toilet where bullets hit her elbow, hand and head.

"The best probable explanation is the deceased was initially upright behind the closed door, she sustained a penetrating wound in the right side of the hip," Mangena told the court in the South African capital.

He said Steenkamp was most likely in a defensive position when the bullet fatally hit her head.

"Reeva must have had both hands covering her head protectively," Mangena added.

"The last bullet hit her on the head, breaking the skull."

Chris Mangena gives a ballistics testimony at Oscar Pistorius' murder trial ©AFP/Getty Images


Mangena's testimony is also consistent with earlier witness reports that said Steenkamp could be heard screaming before she died, contradicting the defence team's claim that she could not have screamed.

He did, however, conclude that Pistorius was not wearing his prosthetic limbs when he fired the shots, supporting the six-time Paralympic gold medallist's original defence statement.

The court was also shown more graphic images of Pistorius' blood-splattered bathroom.

Pistorius denies murdering Steenkamp and claims he shot her through the locked bathroom door after he mistook her for an intruder when she went to the toilet.

If found guilty of murder, Pistorius faces a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

The trial was adjourned until Monday (March 24).

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